First deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) - Head of the anti-terrorist center Vasyl Krutov has confirmed reports that a sniper fired at a helicopter that was standing at an airfield in Kramatorsk.

The captain of the helicopter was injured in the resulting explosion.

"A sniper fired a shot at a parked helicopter in Kramatorsk. The bullet got into the fuel tank," Krutov said at a briefing.

According to him, there was then an explosion.

At the same time, the press service of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine said that unidentified people fired from a grenade launcher at a Mi-8 military helicopter of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The press service told Interfax-Ukraine that no one was killed. The Defense Ministry added that the attack was carried out when the helicopter was in the air.

Earlier, the director of the Center for Military-Political Studies and Information Resistance group coordinator, Dmytro Tymchuk, said at a press briefing in Kyiv that a Mi-8 helicopter had exploded at the airfield in Kramatorsk.

"A tentative theory is that helicopter came under fire as it was warming up before takeoff," he said.

The pilot managed to jump out of the helicopter before the blast, he said.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces took control of Kramatorsk airfield last week.